Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| The Absurd Cavil of the Ass's Head Disposed of.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Chapter XI.651
| 651 Comp. The
Apology, c. xvi. | —The Absurd Cavil of the Ass’s
Head Disposed of.
In this matter we are (said to be) guilty not
merely of forsaking the religion of the community, but of introducing a
monstrous superstition; for some among you have dreamed that our god is
an ass’s head,—an absurdity which Cornelius Tacitus first
suggested. In the fourth book of his histories,652
| 652 In The
Apology (c. xvi.) the reference is to “the fifth book.”
This is correct. Book v. c. 3, is meant. | where he is treating of the Jewish war, he
begins his description with the origin of that nation, and gives his
own views respecting both the origin and the name of their religion. He
relates that the Jews, in their migration in the desert, when suffering
for want of water, escaped by following for guides some wild asses,
which they supposed to be going in quest of water after pasture, and
that on this account the image of one of these animals was worshipped
by the Jews. From this, I suppose, it was presumed that we, too, from
our close connection with the Jewish religion, have ours consecrated
under the same emblematic form. The same Cornelius Tacitus,
however,—who, to say the truth, is most loquacious in
falsehood—forgetting his later statement, relates how Pompey the
Great, after conquering the Jews and capturing Jerusalem, entered the
temple, but found nothing in the shape of an image, though he examined
the place carefully. Where, then, should their God have been found?
Nowhere else, of course, than in so memorable a temple which was
carefully shut to all but the priests, and into which there could be no
fear of a stranger entering. But what apology must I here offer for
what I am going to say, when I have no other object at the moment than
to make a passing remark or two in a general way which shall be equally
applicable to yourselves?653
| 653 In vobis, for “in
vos” ex pari transferendorum. | Suppose that our God,
then, be an asinine person, will you at all events deny that you
possess the same characteristics with ourselves in that matter? (Not
their heads only, but) entire asses, are, to be sure, objects of
adoration to you, along with their tutelar Epona; and all herds, and
cattle, and beasts you consecrate, and their stables into the
bargain! This, perhaps, is your grievance against us, that, when
surrounded by cattle-worshippers of every kind we are simply devoted to
asses!E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
